For those who are wondering, this is "outreach" being done by the AKC's "High Volume Breeders Committee." A "high volume breeder" is the AKC's new name for what used to be called a puppy mill.

The AKC's new goals are two-fold: to "raise the bar" through health testing (but not by changing breed standards or by allowing outcrossing), and to streamline the registration process at pet store outlets so that more puppy mill dogs can be moved through these parvo- and distemper-plagued distribution points.

And what's going on back at the puppy mill?

The same as it ever was -- dogs bred until dead, raised on wire, and never properly socialized. Nice!

10 comments:

AKC literature and breed club literature (including most official breed books) tells us to go for "responsible breeders," who breed "to the standard" and "show their dogs."

Okay. Exactly why should anyone take advice from an organization that is in bed with Hunte "Dog Gulag" Corporation?

You cannot produce dogs like hogs or chickens. We eat those things-- most people don't care what they think or feel or what their lives are like before they turn up on on the plate beside the mashed potatoes and gravy. They can be produced at high volume.

Dogs are different. They aren't even "just pets" anymore. They are companion animals; animals with which we hope to have some sort of communion, friendship, and affection.

The AKC has very little moral authority to lecture people on how to breed dogs. And that's why registrations will continue to drop.

Wow, 5 free testings for kennels that could give a rat's ass about anything except that these poor dogs churn out as many poorly bred puppies they can. As if a puppy miller cares about the health and well-being of their breeding stock. This is a joke, right?

God help you if you speak out against the Hunte/AKC alliance, too. The last time I did, my blog was spammed with comments from 'breeders' calling me a nazi and a communist (simultaneously, apparently), and saying I was a dupe of Peta. Yeah, because Peta looooves breeders like me.

I bitch and moan about the CKC's draconian regulations and byzantine paperwork - but CKC also turfs out ANY member who sells to pet stores, brokers or auctions. They also allow us to add health requirements to our breed standards. Our paperwork costs more and takes longer, but our dogs are better protected.

I'm a pretty hard case for the show dogs loons, as I actually hunt and kill things, and do it all year long.

To suggest I have anything but contempt for PETA or HSUS is not to read this site or study my tips on how to get blood out of your hunting pants :)

The simple truth is that most of the show dog people are pretenders and fantasy matrons who could not kill a chicken in the real world, and who certainly do not know how to pluck it. A dog unable to breathe its whole life, or tormented by skin problems, and joint problems? They are OK with that. Dogs are just property to them.

I have had this post in my mind all day,and I have been thinking about it.

I think that this line of criticism against the AKC is probably going to be the most damaging, because I have found the one thing that can get real dog people launched is to start talking about puppy mills.

The show people use their dogs as an expression of their egos to a very extreme extent. If we could just leave our egos out of it, dogs would probably be better off.

But then this whole thing is underpinned with a dark commercial side. So while they are worrying about fancy points and breeding to standard, the actual organization they are serving is doing something so horribly rotten. I wish one of those PETA undercover guys would get a job at a Hunte dog production facility.

This is the expose that is just waiting to be written. Not only do you have a rotten fancy operating on bizarre and esoteric eugenics principles, but the whole thing is funded by factory-farmed dogs!

As I sat watching 'Food, Inc', I thought about the relationships depicted in the film, whereby large corporations (Con-Agra, Tyson) control the mechanics and means of production and distribution of both grain and livestock. And I wondered if the AKC and/or Hunte (or Lambriar) were watching.

By the sound of things, they most certainly were. And we haven't even seen the worst of it yet.

If you are looking at dog breeding as a business, breeding bulldogs seems like one of the worst breeds to go with. They can't get pregnant without help and generally need C sections... which have to be expensive... so you would think that from a business perspective bulldog breeders would want to fix such breed problems?

The simple truth is that most of the show dog people are pretenders and fantasy matrons who could not kill a chicken in the real world, and who certainly do not know how to pluck it.

I think you'll find that more and more of us see showing as a means to an end - an unpleasant sport that we take part in simply because to NOT do so is to instantly earn the label "puppy mill" or "backyard breeder" from other show breeders.

It doesn't matter if you health test, breed for a dog that can breathe, run, catch mice efficiently (and blacksnakes, in the case of Tessa's brother) and is mentally sound and a good pet - if you don't show, you're a 'bad breeder'.

So, we suck it up and show one dog every few years. That seems to suffice, and it's a nice way to catch up with people we haven't seen in a while. Sean grimaces with disgust every time I force him to a show.

Oh, and as a woman of good healthy farm stock, I can most certainly kill and pluck a chicken, or bleed a hog, or dress a duck. :)